The Garden
by notourmoniker
Summary: The path we walk together is lined by oleander and foxglove. SnowQueen 100 word ficlets.
1. Primrose

**Primrose**

Asleep, Snow's mind filled with images of Regina - young, bright, and beautiful, being shocked again and again.

Waking suddenly, eyes adjusting to the way moonlight filtered through Neverland's dense jungle canopy, she heard the unsettled noises of Regina jolting in her sleep. The sight hit so hard, that she scrambled to wake her, even as Regina - gasping and panicked - tried to push her away. But Snow held fast, only shifting at strained, whispered words.

"I don't know why you keep trying to save me."

And answering into the darkness, she replied;

"Because I'm not sure I can live without you."


	2. Oleander

**Oleander**

Snow's senses screamed in alarm. But she had known this was a trap long before they stood together over Daniel's grave. What she hadn't expected was a choice, as terrible a choice as it was.

Though she wanted to refuse, to keep fighting, she could not keep enduring these heartbreaks.

So, she took the apple.

Warmth and color drained from her skin, her breathing slowed, muscles seized then collapsed.

And the last thing Snow saw was Regina's smile - rare, unguarded, and beautiful - and she should have heeded the warnings, because the sight of it breaks her heart one last time.


	3. Marigold

**Marigold**

Regina marveled at how gently Snow White spread poultice over her wound, Wilma's wound.

Her hands were calloused but moved with skill as she spoke of a woman she once knew. Despite her wavering voice, she shared stories with a stranger about a hero on horseback - one who had disappeared and was grieved for, one she hoped would someday return.

But as they broke camp and walked together through the forest, Snow stepping with grace over mossy stones and fallen branches, her earlier kindnesses were rescinded when they came upon the village where both their hopes turned again to despair.


	4. Hemlock

**Hemlock**

It should have been easy to pretend that there was nothing between them.

Snow could have ignored her growing longing, disregarded the way her skin tingled at Regina's nearness, passed off every sign that her affections were veering towards something improper as little more than youthful curiosity - the kind spoken of by characters in romance novels that she wasn't meant to be reading.

It should have been easy, but it wasn't.

Because one night she pressed her lips to Regina's, and with that first taste Snow White knew this love would be her destruction, and Regina would be her death.


	5. Foxglove

**Foxglove**

The only wish Regina was granted, was one she'd never made. But Tinkerbell, bright, green, and eager, promised hope - a fresh start. So, they followed pixie dust to a tavern.

Through the dulled window panes, Regina could see a man haloed by magic. While only his tattoo was visible her heart slowed, and for a moment she believed she could be happy.

But then the light and color around him faded.

Suddenly, the possibilities of true love were obscured by something just as strong and much more volatile - a swirl of color so dark and black only Snow White remained.


	6. Lavender

**Lavender**

Snow shook as the palace guards laid out the circumstances of her father's death - his murder. They assured her that the genie would pay for his betrayal, but she did not hear - mind filling with images of a viper coiled in his bed, poised to strike and kill as he lay beside it.

Clinging to Regina, Snow tried to still her trembling, but the queen was still and calm, the picture of grace.

So no comfort came.

All she was left with was a growing sense of distrust as she remembered that serpents eagerly bite those who pick flowers carelessly.


	7. Mandrake

**Mandrake**

Curse broken, Snow White appeared at her door with a litany of indignant warnings.

Though her hatred had decades to simmer and grow, the sight of Snow's darkening eyes and flushed skin - of her desperation - made Regina's head spin as control slipped away. Manic, she pulled their bodies together, mouths meeting in hard pressing kisses.

And Snow kissed back - shared the delirium. Her heart beat so loud and fast Regina swore she held it in her hand.

Because neither of them were seeing things as they were, recognizing the danger of this desire and the sickness of wanting your enemy.


	8. Lily of the Valley

**Lily of the Valley**

Snow opened the cell door, and for a moment, just a wonderful moment she believed that Regina really would leave the evil behind her. That just like that the happiness they had both been denied could return to them.

But all her hopes for redemption and healing collapsed as Regina took the knife and turned it on her.

Even though it could not pierce her skin, Snow White still felt her abdomen seize in pain.

Tears clouded her vision and bile rose in her throat, as the heart Regina had never managed to crush broke while still inside her chest.


	9. Nightshade

**Nightshade**

She was silent as she notched the arrow. Drawstring taut in her hand, Snow waited to kill the queen.

When Regina appeared - back straight and draped in velvet - Snow's eyes were automatically drawn to her. But as she readied to loose the arrow, her vision blurred and the fingers holding the string stiffened.

Forcing their release, the arrow's path was disrupted by the stranger - the one who spoke of kindheartedness and love. Touched, they kissed - warmth and compassion returning with a rush.

But Snow knew that even with a heart of darkness, that arrow would not have hit its mark.


	10. Honeysuckle

**Honeysuckle**

Scant words were spoken as they sat together in Regina's kitchen - apologies for the mistakes of their parents, for their own mistakes, and all the sourness that had come after. The revelations of the last day made the words come easier, sweeter.

New knowledge had rewritten their history, the forces shaping their lives and fates becoming less clear. But as old and unhealed wounds were opened, the door to forgiveness opened with them.

Finally, the bitter things that had long lived between them faded away, and the love that was always meant to bond Regina and Snow White was reaffirmed.


	11. Buttercup

**Buttercup**

Cruelties building acrid and sour between them, blistered and burned as they were spoken - as they took shape in Snow White's darkening heart.

Growing even blacker as she begged to be killed.

Regina smiled, a single tear sliding down her cheek.

After everything Snow was still a selfish child - expecting others to bear her mistakes, take away her pain regardless of what they would suffer for it.

But Regina would swallow no more bitter and caustic cruelties. Pushing the fast beating heart back into Snow's chest, they were both made to live with the anguish of what they had done.


	12. Larkspur

**Larkspur**

In the garden, Snow picked flowers and laughed in the light sweet way that came when it was just the two of them - her eyes coy and flashing with affection.

Though returning her smile should have been easy, Regina's skin tingled and burned with rage.

Because looking at Snow White was painful. It made her heart stop and her mouth go dry as she remembered Daniel dying before her.

But while Snow's attachment to Regina grew, her _pure heart_ remained untouched by his death.

And a darkness blooming in Regina's own heart promised that love would never flower between them.


	13. Hawthorn

**Hawthorn**

Regina had been broken. The traumas of her youth made her a woman afraid of weakness, of love, of living in light lest she see what she had become.

But amidst that darkness Snow White looked at her and saw the potential for good. Beyond sense, she held to the hope that Regina would change.

Years later, long after those first cautious steps towards healing and redemption, Snow White placed a silver crown upon Regina's head.

And so it was that hope saved them both, and the Evil Queen's dark heart slowly pieced back together.

"All hail the Good Queen!"


End file.
